How Early Should You Get to the Airport?

There have always been two distinct types of fliers: those who arrive hours before their flight and those who cut arrival times as close to takeoff as possible. And Traveler editors fall on every part of the spectrum of this eternal debate. But the truth is, nobody likes to waste time. So what are the exact recommendations for how early you should get to the airport?

A few key factors can help you hit that timing sweet spot. First, how big or busy is the departure airport? Review your airline’s guidelines and check-in requirements. For example, Delta states the minimum airport arrival time for its flights out of Dublin is four hours before the flight's departure, and you must be at the gate 60 minutes prior to departure. This might sound dramatic even for a habitual early bird, but passengers flying to the U.S. from Dublin might not realize that it is one of the few airports outside North America that has a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance facility. This means fliers go through customs and immigration before departing, so it's best to take the airline's advice and arrive early.

You can also base your arrival plan on when you've booked your flight. Is it a busy time of year? Is it a busy time of day? Do you have access to faster lines because of mileage status, first-class tickets, or pre-screening? Are you traveling with a family of five? What would it cost if you missed your flight? If you like to play with risk, know how restrictive your ticket and/or airline is. You may need to read the fare rules associated with your ticket to determine this.

Below are some general rules of thumb to ensure you never need to make a mad dash through the airport to catch your flight again.

For domestic flights at a major airport, if you have bags to check, get there two hours early before; if you have no bags to check, make it 90 minutes before your flight's departure time.

Remember, a domestic flight can and will take off without you if your checked bag is on the plane—unless there is some type of unusual circumstance or behavior—and checking a bag moments beforehand or losing track of time at the airport bar doesn’t quite count as “unusual.” Furthermore, if you do plan to check baggage, that’s even more of a reason to get there early. Those bag drop lines can be long, and if you don’t meet the baggage check-in cutoff (typically 40 minutes before departure for domestic flights), you most likely won’t make the flight. For smaller regional airports—something like, say Bozeman, Montana— you can probably safely shave arrival to the airport to 90 minutes ahead to check bags and 60 minutes out for carry-on bags only.

For international flights, get there three hours ahead of departure.

On international flights, the plane is less likely to take off without you if your bag is already on board. But if you don’t show up at the gate for last call, the airline is more likely to pull your bag than hold the flight. But, remember if it’s a full flight (like most), and you aren’t in the boarding area within the airline’s specified time frame (for example, Delta says 45 minutes before departure for international flights; United says 30 minutes), they could give your seat to another passenger and bump you without paying any compensation. It doesn’t actually matter whether the airplane door is open or closed. (This also holds true for domestic flights, but the timeframe is usually 15 to 30 minutes from departure, but check your airline's rules.) That being said, planes can taxi away from a gate as early as 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure. Once the plane is full, even if you’re not the one in your seat, it’s going to leave.

On busy days, like the Friday of Labor Day Weekend and the day before Thanksgiving, you might want to add an extra hour to the recommendations above.

You're much more likely to miss a flight if you're booked on a top holiday travel day, when snaking security lines are most common. For example, on 2019's peak summer holiday travel days (like Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends), the Transportation Security Administration expects to screen a record-breaking 2.7 million fliers per day at airports across the U.S. So giving yourself a little extra padding time-wise on those days is not a horrible idea.

You can also use the MyTSA app to check how busy the airport is likely to be on your departure date and time based on historical data. And if you haven't already, look into applying for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. Last summer, 94 percent of TSA PreCheck passengers waited less than five minutes, despite the swell of seasonal passengers.

Don't make the mistake of thinking airlines or fellow passengers will always let you move to the front of the security line if your plane is about to leave. Not only can there be flat denials for such assistance, but we’ve also received letters from readers who ran into this problem, some of whom intended to get to the airport moments before the check-in cutoff, but due to hotel-shuttle snafus, inadequate airline staffing, flat tires, traffic jams, or other issues, were not able to do so. They were refused any opportunity to move forward in the security line, missed their flights, and had to pay hefty change fees or, in some cases, purchase new tickets.

Additional reporting by Jessica Puckett

This post was originally published in July 2014. It has been updated with new information.